Oven Roasted Broccoli

Oven Roasted Broccoli is not only easy but its a super healthy side to add to any meal! At our house, everyone eats it up faster than any other vegetable ever!

I can remember my husband’s and my first date perfectly. I remember we were chatting upstairs on his old 1970’s couch and I was asking him all these “important” questions. I remember asking who his favorite super hero was and why. Where his dream vacation would be. What his dream car was. Favorite sport. All the answers were pretty normal.  Then I asked him what was his favorite treat was – and get this, he said “chips”. I had to repeat myself because I thought he did not hear me. He said “No, really, my favorite treat is chips.” I then explained to him what a treat was, thinking that perhaps his few years in the states made him unfamiliar with the term “treat”. “No, really, it’s chips. Like Lays or Pringles. I love chips”. I had no idea how much he really loved chips until we were married.

My husband has severe hearing loss – about 90% loss. His hearing aids help a TON, but they don’t make up for it all. I have learned to speak loudly, look at him when I am talking so he can read my lips, turn off the music when I want to talk to him, touch his arm so he looks at me when we are in a crowd and such. I even get to yell in his ear when he takes out his hearing aids 🙂  We all love watching shows with captioning – you should try it, it is crazy how much you miss when you don’t have captioning.  This is second nature to our family and we don’t think twice about it, but when we interact with others I usually have to remind people to speak up or to look at him when they speak.

Every night my husband takes out his hearing aids when he sleeps because honestly, they are just not that comfortable. One of the things that comes with severe hearing loss territory is that his internal clock is spot on. He wakes up at 6:30 EVERY SINGLE DAY. When we were first married I remember waking up to some crazy sounds at 6:30 in the morning: “Chip bag crinkle, aum, chomp, chomp. Chip bag crinkle, aum, chomp, chomp.” Over and over. I eventually got up to investigate and thats when I realized that my husband was a chipoholic.

Seriously. HE LOVES CHIPS. He loves chips like I love chocolate cake or coconut doughnuts, or raspberry tarts (which are true treats), and I would not even eat those for breakfast. If I don’t have chips in the house, the family suffers. If we have any kind of sandwich or hotdog – chips are a must, or honestly, he will not eat. I kid you not. I buy minimum 4 bags of chips weekly and that is not enough. The kid is a chipoholic.

But you know, I love it. Each morning when I wake up to his chip chomping, it makes me happy. I love to hear how much he is enjoying those chips. I love how happy that simple thing makes him. In that moment I am happy. I smile, and then roll over and go back to sleep – because well, 6:30 is way too early for me!

What does a chipoholic and roasted broccoli have in common you ask? Well, I made this roasted broccoli one day and I have never seen anything disappear as quick as my husbands chips. He LOVES the stuff and I am happy to make it for him – it is much healthier than his chips for sure!

See the Happy!

Adapted recipe idea from: Stockpilingmoms.com